Victor Ezeja
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared another indefinite nationwide strike which takes effect from Monday, February 14, 2022, over unmet demands by the Federal Government.
This was the resolution of the National Executive Committee of ASUU at the end of its two-day meeting on Sunday at the University of Lagos, Akoka.
ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke said the union regretted the decision to embark on the strike knowing it’s effect on the university education system but they had to take the action to ensure that their needs were met.
Join our WhatsApp Channel” I announce to you with a heavy heart the commencement of a nationwide strike starting from 14th February till our needs are met,” Osodeke said.
ASUU and the Federal Government has been in a seemingly intractable controversy over failure of the government to meet some of the 2009 agreement it had with the union, leading to series of strikes which had crippled educational activities in public universities in the past years.
Some of the issues raised by ASUU yet to be addressed include funding for revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution, promotion arrears, renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement and inconsistencies in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) payment.
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The academic union had in November 2021 issued a three-week ultimatum over failure to meet the demands.
Earlier this month, ASUU had also issued a statement lamenting that the Federal Government has become highly unfaithful, and described the government as “a serial promise-breaker”.
In the statement, which was signed by Lazarus Maigoro, Chairman of ASUU, University of Jos branch, it indicated that the union has had several meetings with the Minister of Labour, Officials of the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission, and National Information Technology Development Agency and even with the Chief of Staff to the President but all the issues raised remained unresolved.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
